Book Review: Atta by Jolien Janzing

 Note: This book isn't available in English (yet).

This one looked interesting, so I bought it and gave it a read! Spoilers ahead.

Meet Atta, a rambunctious young prehistoric human girl who feels underappreciated by her clan. One day she tries to prove herself during a mammoth hunt, but instead this ends up backfiring and she is separated from her family. She soon is taken in by a group of Neanders, who seem to look after her well. However, Dottie, the leader of the Neanders, seems to have ulterior motives.

This is definitely a simple story. Simple does not mean bad, mind you. But it isn't the most complex story you'll ever find. It also has its flaws, but overall I enjoyed it.

The characters are honestly pretty shallow. Atta herself does go through an arc, but aside from her and Noz and her long-lost sister most other characters are pretty static and shallow. They do fill their purpose in the story, but I'd be lying if I said they didn't feel one-dimensional for the most part. Still, Atta does have a nice arc of wanting to return to her family which she didn't always get along with, and her family has a nice but small arc in return. Noz was definitely my favorite character in the story, a Neander boy who clearly really likes Atta but is underappreciated by his clan and rather shy and awkward as a result. Him becoming a leader of the Neanders was a nice ending for his arc as well.

As for Dottie, our main antagonist, she just irked me more than anything. She's introduced from page one as a very quirky Neander who clearly went through some loss, but even early on you can tell she's just kind of bullshitting with Atta. Dottie wishes to claim Atta as her new daughter after the loss of her old one, which would mean keeping Atta hostage as she wants to return to her real family. Dottie's betrayal is supposed to be a bit of a twist near the end, but you can really just tell from the first time she appears there's something up with this lady, and it's not good or pleasant. 

Speaking of Dottie, the climax is just...incredibly rushed. Basically what happens is Dottie tells Atta she'll be guided home to her family, something Atta is very happy about after being stuck with the Neanders for a while now. But of course Dottie tricks her, and instead she's planning on holding Atta hostage as her new daughter since she's still grieving the loss of her old one. You'd think this is the emotional high point of the story, but instead it's glossed over really quickly.

Basically, Dottie tries to promote Atta to being a new leader of the Neanders. Which doesn't even make that much sense, considering it would mean Atta could do whatever she wants and leave, which of course is opposing any and all motivations of Dottie we've been given so far. Second, this part of the story is incredibly rushed. Atta decides that instead of taking the leadership position, she talks Noz, who is Dottie's son, into being the new leader for the Neanders, while she would leave them behind to go home. And this just...works. There's barely any arguing over this or Dottie still trying to keep her at the Neander clan, which has been the entire conflict so far. Atta just suggests Noz as a leader and after a few exchanges this decision is just made and Atta goes home. But because this climax is so rushed and Dottie, our main antagonist, suddenly without buildup changes motivations and barely puts up a fight, this feels thoroughly underwhelming and too fast-paced. There's no real impact to this part which is supposed to be the emotional core of the story.

Finally, I just have to address the existence of Slinkie, a Smilodon cub whom Atta ends up adopting while she's with the Neanders. Normally I like having animal sidekicks in my stories, especially a sabertooth which is one of my favorite prehistoric animals. But Slinkie...just kind of exists in the story. She doesn't do anything outside of being there to be cute. She's just a random pet Atta has, possibly to replace her pet wolf Stol who she has back home for a while. Slinkie has no real personality, no impact on the plot, and doesn't seem to be conveying any themes for the story, either. In the end Slinkie is set free as a now half-grown Smilodon and she doesn't appear again. I just have to wonder why she was included in the story in the first place if she doesn't do anything. 

Stol, who I just mentioned, is barely even in the book but he still does more than Slinkie does. Stol actively goes looking for Atta. They have a strong connection and in the end he's the first of Atta's home clan to find her after she was missing for so long. What does Slinkie do? Just go along with the plot and vanish in the last few chapters. Nothing of value was added with her existence and it just confuses me why she was included. My main guess is 100% that she's just there to be a cute animal sidekick, because there seems to be no other purpose she fills.

So yeah, a flawed story, but despite this I quite enjoyed it. Atta's arc is nice, I liked seeing the contrasting cultures between her clan and that of the Neanders. Noz was a very well-written character and I also liked how the mystery of her missing sister was resolved in the end. Not a perfect book, but neat. Also, the pretty illustrations make for a nice bonus.

Rating: 3.5/5